Hen blinder



p 19.55 s. BARTNER 2,718,212

HEN BLINDER Filed July 31, 1955 FlG.l

INVENTOR.

Sol Burrner United States Patent HEN BLINDER Sol Bartner, New York, N. Y.

Application July 31, 1953, Serial No. 371,653

6 Claims. (Cl. 119-97) The present invention relates to a blinding device for hens, and more particularly to a blinding device for obstructing a hens vision in a forward direction while allowing it vision in a downward direction.

Poultry or chicken raisers have suffered substantial losses in hens killed by their companions because of the tendency of hens to react violently to any appearance of blood; the vision of blood inciting them to pick violently at it. Since egg laying is often accompanied with blood spots surrounding the egg discharging opening which may be visible to other hens, such spots incited the other hens to pick on the body of the laying hen as soon as they were noticed. Such picking at the blood spots only enlarged and multiplied them and thus increased the violence of 1 the attacking hens, resulting, often in the killing of laying hen.

To prevent such losses, poultry layers have heretofore resorted to the use of blinders which are mounted on and secured to the beak of the hens to obstruct their forward vision, so that they will be unable to see the bodies of their companions and thus be unable to notice any inciting blood spots on them, while at the same time not interfereing with their vision in a downward direction, so that the hens may feed without hinderance. In using such blinders, advantage is taken of the natural presence of a soft or cartilagenous spot in the beaks of the hens, forward of their eyes which is capable of being pierced or penetrated by a pin or prong.

However, the hen blinders heretofore used, while eifective for their purpose, as long as they stayed in place, had certain shortcomings. These blinders were of two types, those that penetrated through the soft spot of the beak and those that only penetrated part way into such soft spot. The first type had the disadvantage of requiring two persons to perform the act of attaching the blinders on the hen; one to hold the hen and the other to secure the blinders in place. The second type had the disadvantage of not being securely fastened and being subject to dislodgement due to the motion of the hens head or to contact with other hens or objects.

It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide hen blinders of the character described which are held in place through the penetration of the hens beak, so that it is safely and securely held in place against inadvertent removal and may yet be mounted and secured on the hen by only one person who may both hold the hen and attach the blinder, without any assistance from any one.

It is another object of the present invention to provide hen blinders of the character described which may be removed as easily as they are mounted and may be reused with equal effectiveness any number of times.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide hen blinders of the character described which are relatively economical to produce and which are generally easy, convenient and economical to use.

. The foregoing and other advantages and superiorities of the hen blinders of the present invention will become "ice more readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the embodiment thereof shown in the accompanying drawings and from the description following. It is to be understood, however, that such embodiment is shown by way of illustration only, to make the principles and practice of the invention more readily comprehensible, and without any intent of limiting the invention to the specific details therein shown.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front perspective view of one embodiment of hen blinders of the present invention, shown as mounted in place on the beak of a hen;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same;

Fig. 3 is a rear elevational view of the blinders shown in Figs. 1 and 2; and

Fig. 4 is a section taken on line 44 of Fig. 3, and

Fig. 5 a is top plan view of a modified embodiment of the hen blinders of the invention.

Generally stated, the present invention consists in the provision on a pair of opaque, rigid, blinder elements connected to one another by a bridge, a pin or the like which is secured by one end of the inner face of one of the blinder elements for pivoted movement in a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of the blinders and providing hook or similar means on the inner face of the other of the blinder elements for engaging and holding the free end of said pin. The invention also consists in the provision on one or both of the blinder elements of slotted means into which the pin fits when in closed position, to limit its movement in a plane parallel to the blinder elements to enhance the security of the blinders when in place.

Referring now in greater detail to the hen blinders illustrated in the drawing, they consist of a pair of blinder elements 10, which may be of any conventional suitable shape and may be formed of any suitable rigid, opaque material, such as synthetic plastic material, or metal or their suitable substitutes. The blinder elements 10 are connected by their upper edge portions by a preferably arcuate bridge 11, which may be formed integrally with the blinder elements, as illustrated, or may be connected to them in any suitable manner; in the latter case not necessarily of the same material as the blinder elements.

One of the elements 10 has connected to its inner face, by one end, a pin or pin-like element which is either pivoted or resiliently formed for movement of its free end in a plane approximately perpendicular to the plane of the blinder elements 10. While such pin or pin-like element may be made of metal or plastic and may be integrally formed with the element 10 or directly connected to it, as by an offset end, in a manner readily understood,

I prefer, in one embodiment of the invention, such as illustrated, to provide on the inner face 12, of one of the blinder elements 14) a stud-like projection 14, having an opening 15, formed therethrough, in a vertical direction, substantially parallel to the plane of the blinder element, in which is inserted, from the underside, a preferably metallic pin 16, having the head 17, at one end abutting against the underside of the projection 14. The portion of the pin 16 projecting above the stud 14 is then bent substantially perpendicularly to the portion within the opening 15, so that it may be rotated about the portion thereof Within the stud 14 as an axis, in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the blinder elements 10.

Similarly, on the inner face 19, of the other element 10 there is provided a second stud-like projection 20, formed with the vertical opening 21, therethrough, through the latter of which there is inserted, from the underside, a headed pin 22, the projecting end of which, from above, is bent to form a hook 24, for engaging the end of the pin 16. It may here be stated that instead of being in two parts, a one piece stud and hook may be 3 formed, either of plastic or metal, integral with or directly connected to the inner face 19, of the blinder element 10, in a manner readily understood.

If desired, means may be provided for supporting and steadying the pin 16 when in engaged position, for its safer retention in such position. Such means may compr' e an upright lug 25, extending from the inner face of on or both of the blinder elements 10, at or adjacenttheir facing edges, which lug 25 is provided with a slot 26;, extending inwardly and disposed in position to receive the pin 16 when the latter is in engaged position, to limit its mobility.

This completes the description of the hen blinding device of the present invention. In securing such blinders in place, upon the beak of a hen, a single person may hold the hen with or under one arm, utilizing the other arm freely to grasp the blinding device with its hand, push the pin 16 thereof through the soft spot 28, in the beak of the hen and then, with the same hand move the free end of the pin 16 into engagement with the hook 24; the pin, at the same time, entering into the steadying slots 26.

It may here be stated that the term hen when used in the specification and claims, is used in its broader sense, to denote both the male and the female of the domestic fowl, including the rooster.

It will be apparent that the hen blinders of the present invention make possible subtsantial economies over such articles previously in use. It eliminates the need for more than one person for securing the blinders in place. It remains securely and safely in place after engagement on the beak of the hen, thereby eliminating the need for replacement because of dislodging and also eliminates loss and damage of the blinders and the possibility of damage to other hens after inadvertent displacement, before replacement.

In the modified embodiment of the invention illustrated in Fig. 5 of the drawings, each of the blinder elements is formed with a rearwardly curving outer edge portion 30, for the purpose of reducing the tendency of the elements 10 to catch or trip against projections in various objects, as in the links of the endless belt feeding apparatus frequently used in poultry farms, to thereby reduce damage to the blinders and injury to the hens.

As numerous modifications and variations may be made in the hen blinders of the present invention, by any one skilled in the art, in accordance with the principles of the invention set forth above and without the use of any inventive ingenuity, I desire to be protected for any and all such variations and modifications that may be made within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the claims hereto appended.

What I claim is:

1. A hen blinder of the character described, comprising a pair of substantially fiat, opaque blinder elements, a bridge connecting said blinder elements edgewise along an upper portion thereof, one of said blinder elements having connected to its inner face for pivotal movement in a plane approximately perpendicular to the plane of the blinder elements a pin member adapted to penetrate the soft part of the beak of a hen, the other of said blinder elements having hook means connected to its inner face for engaging the free end of said pin.

2. A hen blinder of the character described, comprising a pair of substantially flat, rigid, opaque blinder ele ments, a bridge connecting said blinder elements edgewise along an upper portion thereof, one of said blinder elements having a pin supported pivotally on its inner face for movement in a plane approximately perpendicular to the plane of said blinder elements, the other of said blinder elements having hook means formed on its inner face for engaging the free end of said pin.

3. A hen blinder of the character described, comprising a pair of substantially flat, rigid, opaque blinder elements, an arcuate bridge connecting said blinder elements edgewise along an upper portion thereof, a pin connected by one end to the inner face of one of said blinder elements, in spaced relation thereto for pivotal movement in a plane approximately perpendicular to the plane of said blinder elements, the other of said blinder elements having hook means formed on its inner face for engaging the free end of said pin.

4. A hen blinder of the character described, comprising a pair of substantially flat, rigid, opaque blinder elements, a bridge connecting said blinder elements edgewise 1 along an upper portion thereof, one of said blinder elements having a stud-like projection provided on its inner face, a pin pivotally supported by one end on said projection for movement in a plane approximately perpendicular to the plane of said blinder elements, the other of said blinder elements having hook means on its inner face for engaging the free end of said pin.

5. A hen blinder of the character described, comprising a pair of substantially fiat, relatively rigid, opaque blinder elements, a bridge connecting said blinder elements edgewise to one another along an upper portion thereof, one of said blinder elements having a studlike projection formed on its inner face, a pin pivotally supported on said projection for movement in a plane approximately perpendicular to the plane of said blinder elements, the other of said blinder elements having a projection formed on its inner face, and a hook for engaging the free end of said pin supported on said second projection.

6. A hen blinder of the character described, comprising a pair of substantially flat, opaque, rigid blinder elements, a bridge connecting said blinder elements edgewise along an upper inner edge portion thereof, each of said blinder elements having a rearwardly curving outer edge portion, one of said blinder elements having connected to its inner face for pivotal movement in a plane approximately perpendicular to the plane of the blinder elements a pin member adapted to penetrate the soft part of the beak of a hen, the other of said blinder elements having hook means connected to its inner face for engaging the free end of said pin.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 175,984 Hood Apr. 11, 1876 969,666 Smith Sept. 6, 1910 2,079,107 Cridlebaugh May 4, 1937 2,181,070 Rudolph Nov. 21, 1939 2,206,933 Anglim July 9, 1940 2,217,891 Cridlebaugh Oct. 15, 1940 

